By CHARLES POPE, P-I WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The House unanimously approved the Wild Sky Wilderness Area on Tuesday, moving the popular 106,577- acre project to the brink of reality after five years of frustrating detours.

By clearing the House, the first new wilderness area in Washington state in 23 years is virtually assured of final passage, lawmakers and supporters said. The Senate, which will consider the bill in the coming months, has passed the bill three times, only to see it fail each time in the House.

"The journey has been long, but I've been patient," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who sponsored the bill and whose district includes most of the property. "I think this is a good example of how things actually happen in Congress. I'm very pleased, to say the least."

With work finished in the House, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she would press to bring the bill to the Senate floor. Murray introduced a bill identical to Larsen's in the Senate.

"I remain completely optimistic that I will be standing there in Wild Sky for a signing ceremony" this year, a beaming Murray said in an interview shortly after the House acted.

"I am so ready. ... The first time out of the House is a great day for Wild Sky, and the prospects for us to be able to finally get it passed are good. I still have the smile on my face."

Under Larsen's bill, 106,577 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest would receive the highest level of protection afforded federal property.

It would be off limits to vehicles, including bicycles and snowmobiles, as well as to logging, mining and other commercial uses. Wheelchairs would be allowed, and the proposal calls for a 2-mile former logging road to be converted to a wheelchair-accessible trail.

Road construction would be prohibited except in emergencies, such as fires. The goal is to preserve the land so that the 2.4 million people who live within two hours of the valley can experience views and vistas that greeted the first settlers.

And in a break with tradition in which only highest-elevation land is protected -- so-called rocks and ice -- 30 percent of the land protected by Wild Sky would be considered lowland, including forests and salmon-bearing streams.

The boundaries and conditions were negotiated with various interest groups over the years, including local governments, Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, as well as such diverse businesses as REI Inc. and A Stone's Throw Bed and Breakfast in Index.

The most difficult bargaining, however, was in Congress. Until this year, supporters of the Wild Sky bill were struggling against Republican majorities that generally opposed bestowing protections that would limit the use of federal land.

"This bill marks the summit of a five-year process of inclusiveness and compromise," Larsen said from the House floor moments before Wild Sky bill passed by acclamation.

"Over five years of collaboration and compromise has resulted in a bill that has gained broad support in the best tradition of past Washington wildernesses. It is now time to create the next generation of Washington state wilderness," he said.

But to get to this point Larsen, Murray and other supporters had to navigate the complicated politics shaping federal land use, and they were forced to constantly tailor the proposal to address concerns.

The changes worked. The Senate passed the bill three times, and Wild Sky was overwhelmingly supported in Washington state, according to polls. But until this year, Western Republicans, who generally took a dim view of adding protections that limited access and uses of federal lands, controlled the House committee handling the bill.

Pombo embraced a very narrow definition of what land should earn federal protection, and that definition all but disqualified Wild Sky.

In 2004, then-Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., entered the picture. He was running against Murray and offered a 96,000-acre version of Wild Sky that he said Pombo would accept. Larsen, however, objected, saying the new boundaries excluded some of the most important land. Nethercutt's deal collapsed amid angry charges from all sides.

Larsen suggested Tuesday that it was worth the wait.

"Wild Sky will protect more low-elevation acres than any other wilderness area in the state, bringing wilderness closer to our communities and benefiting Washington families and businesses for generations to come," he said.

In an indication of how the November election changed the political landscape, the new chairman of the Natural Resources Committee praised passage of Wild Sky.

"The long-awaited passage of this legislation signals a new direction, and a positive step forward, in the conservation of one of Washington state's most treasured and unique landscapes," Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said.

"As we move forward, the Congress is reminded of our duty to ensure that this area and other wilderness regions across America are preserved for our enjoyment and the future enjoyment of generations to come."